Maraud
by sheeptea
Summary: Maraud: to rove around carrying out violent attacks or looking for plunder. Friends may happen overnight, but Marauders sure don't. Canon with twists


Warnings: possible hetero/homosexual situations, language, gore, and possible drug use

Disclaimer: not mine

* * *

A poorly dressed family stood in an awkward triangle- the only occupants of the spacious platform. All the hustle and bustle of the outside train station was completely muted by the brick portal between platforms nine and ten and the unassuming group did nothing to fill the strained silence. Denise and John Lupin stood uneasily in front of their stock still son, both looking down at the small eleven year old, but neither making the eye contact that the boy longed for. A piercing whistle broke the silence and the boy heard the crescendo of wheels rolling a second before his parents did. Minutes later a bright red train puffed out white clouds up into the grey fog and a nearly overwhelming sense of anxiety rushed over the child. He looked back up from the bright red train and saw his parents in the same position they had assumed for the entire twenty odd minutes they'd waited for the train's arrival.

John lifted his son's second hand trunk up onto the train before he knelt down in front of the boy. _To look at his nose, obviously. Never his eyes_, the child thought for one bitter moment before shoving the thought away guiltily. It wasn't their fault he'd become a monster. "Remus," John spoke seriously, "This is a miraculous chance and you need to understand that it is only by the good grace of the headmaster that you are receiving it. You need to do everything you can to can to be the perfect student, never once let him regret giving you this opportunity. Stay at the top of your class, follow every single rule, and most of all: stay away from people. Do not let anyone come close." Remus nodded gravely, "yes sir." John's lips twitched in what could have been an attempt at a smile and he stood stiffly before touching his son's shoulder for the briefest moment. "Be good," Denise spoke softly, tears glistening in her eyes as she pressed her fingers to her lips before touching them to Remus' forehead. The couple departed without another word, leaving their son to stare after their backs, short words and touches etched in his memory.

Around half an hour later the platform had begun to fill and a new family stood in exactly the same spot that the Lupin's had previously been, only differences being an added child, richer clothing, and a more pretentious manner. Obviously the purest of the pure Blacks knew naught of the previous occupants of that patch of ground, for otherwise they most certainly would have given it a wide birth to avoid dirtying their shoes with mud-blood, and horror of horrors; half-breed. Sirius, for his part, looked around the platforms as inconspicuously as he could manage- it would not do to be caught gawking at such a plebeian sight. His younger brother Regulus seemed to not care about making a spectacle out of himself and was staring openly at a family dressed in odd muggle clothes.

The young girl stood out in particular to Regulus- bright red hair of a shade he'd never seen before, and brilliant green eyes. Freckles dotted her nose and cheeks, standing out even more against the pale complexion of the girl next to her. He wondered if muggle siblings all looked so different from each other. Sirius and had the same defining features and the oler two of his cousins were practically identical. Even his parents looked somewhat alike.

Walburga Black, the parent who wore the pants so to speak, cleared her throat in what she obviously thought was in a polite manner and not more comparable to a wana be gangster hawking a loogy. "There," she announced gesturing towards the wall from which another family, this one with three girls, had just emerged, "Cygnus and Druella have finally arrived. We shall say hello and then leave immediately; before it gets around that there is nothing better for the illustrious Black family to do than wait around a train station all day." Orion nodded and strode imperiously toward his brother, children trailing discontentedly behind.

Sirius and Regulus were immediately shoved off towards the youngest of the Black sisters and the grim set of the older boy's lips drooped further into a disgruntled scowl. Narcissa smiled condescendingly down, "Oh hello there boys. You must be so nervous Sirius. Obviously I wasn't _my_ first year, but then again we all knew _I'd _get into Slytherin no contest. It's so cute how you're all dressed up in your uncolored robes." A tick in Sirius' eye began to twitch. Narcissa was twelve years old going into second year and was barely and inch taller than him, but she still thought she had the right to act all patronizing and "sympathetic" going on and on about how he wasn't going to get into Slytherin. If it meant being stuck with her Sirius almost wished he wouldn't. Not that that was a possibility.

Bellatrix and Andromeda had split off of the Black family gathering after the obligatory pleasantries and soon Regulus was getting dragged by Walburga in the opposite direction Sirius was getting dragged in by Narcissa. After double checking to make sure no influential pureblood was looking, Sirius made a ridiculous face in goodbye and his last view of his family for the semester was Regulus choking on his own spit in humor as Walburga glared down disapprovingly and Orion looking pointedly away.

Not a long time later another family once again filled that popular spot, this one actually showing signs of a normal couple parting with their son for the first time. James Potter grimaced as his father caught him in a bear hug and his mother smothered him in kisses, but secretly - and wouldn't admit under threat of torture- he felt reassured by their display of love. In the end his excitement overcame his nerves and he sped onto the train, waving one hand behind him in a careless farewell. Dianne put an arm around her husband's waist laughing and wiping tears out of her eyes as Harold shook his head, wry grin splitting his face.

James hopped up, trunk held easily in one arm- wiry muscles already developing from tossing a quaffle back and forth with his mother every chance he could get. He slid open the first compartment he saw and was suddenly face to face with a pale girl his exact height. He grinned affably, "'Ello. Mind sharing this compartment?" The girl's eyes trailed slowly down from his scraggly hair down to his well worn trainers, then back up with a sneer twisting her mouth. "We'd prefer not to share the company of blood traitors who enjoy making their hair home to… birds," she said, oozing distain. James grinned and spoke happily, "When I think about it I wouldn't really want to share the company of a bunch of conceited pureblood snobs with an albino leading them. So it's good that we have an agreement." The mood in the compartment turned dark and James looked behind the speechless girl for the first time. There were five other occupants, four of which must have been fourth years at the youngest. The messy haired first year felt for his wand, swallowing around a suddenly dry throat when the smallest boy suddenly started to snigger. James looked to the boy in shock and saw someone clearly related to the snobby gang leader- except those dancing grey eyes looked nothing like the icy ones of the pale girl. The boy stood and walked easily around his frozen cousin, closing the door behind him and effectively cutting off the inevitable confrontation.

James inspected the boy- he had hair the same black as his own, but it was much more sleek and neat with grey eyes and a confident posture despite having a shorter and slimmer stature than the other. The grey eyed boy smirked at the scrutiny and held out a hand introducing himself haughtily, "Sirius Black. You just made my day, by the way. I'm never going to forget Cissa's face." Although being a tad pompous, James found himself liking the smaller boy and took his hand. "James Potter. If you don't like her so much why hang out with her?" Sirius' smirk widened, "For lack of better company. Want to find a compartment before my cousin starts a mob out to lynch the both of us?"

* * *

_Snape slid open the compartment door and sat down opposite Lily. She glanced at him and then looked back out of the window. She had been crying._

'_I don't want to talk to you,' she said in a constricted voice._

'_Why not?'_

"_Tuney h- hates me. Because we saw that letter from Dumbledore.'_

'_So what?'_

_She threw him a look of deep dislike._

'_So she's my sister!'_

'_She's only a – 'He caught himself quickly; Lily, too busy trying to wipe her eyes without being noticed, did not hear him._

'_But we're going!' he said, unable to suppress the exhilaration in his voice. 'This is it! we're off to Hogwarts!'_

_She nodded mopping her eyes, but in spite of herself, she half smiled._

'_You'd better be in Slytherin,' said Snape, encouraged that she had brightened a little._

'_Slytherin?'_

_One of the boys sharing the compartment, who had shown no interest at all in Lily or Snape until that point, looked around at the word. He was slight, black-haired, like Snape but with that indefinable air of having been well-cared for, even adored, that Snape so conspicuously lacked._

'_Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?' he asked the boy lounging on the seats opposite him. The boy did not smile._

'_My whole family have been in Slytherin,' he said_

'_Blimey,' said the first boy, who wore round glasses 'and I thought you seemed all right!'_

_The other boy grinned._

'_Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?'_

_The boy with glasses lifted an invisible sword._

"'_Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!" Like my Dad.'_

_Snape made a small disparaging noise. The black haired boy turned on him._

'_Got a problem with that?'_

'_No,' said Snape, though his slight sneer said otherwise. 'If you'd rather be brawny than brainy- '_

'_Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?' interjected the second boy.  
The other boy roared with laughter. Lily sat up, rather flushed, and looked from one to the other in dislike._

'_Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment.'_

'_Oooooo...'_

_The two boys imitated her lofty voice; the boy with glasses tried to trip Snape as he passed._

'_See ya, Snivellus!' a voice called as the compartment door slammed_

(Deathly Hallows)

* * *

Peter tried to quench the nervousness he felt in the presence of the other boy in the compartment as he waved enthusiastically to his family out the window as the train slowly pulled away from the station. Remus Lupin had spoken a total of two words to Peter.

Since he'd gotten on moments before the train started to puff out steam, all of the compartments were full except for one which held a boy who could have been any age and had an intimidating scar down the side of his face- which was pressed into an old book. Warily, Peter tapped on the door before sliding it open. "Er… Hello. D'you mind if I sit in this compartment? Everywhere else's full." The boy looked up for a split second and Peter was met with blank brown eyes. The boy shrugged and looked back down to his thick book. Peter sat cautiously on the seat across the boy. "I-I'm P-peter. Peter Pettigrew." "Remus Lupin," the boy spoke in a soft husky voice not even sparing one more glance from the yellowing pages.

A minute later another knock was heard on the compartment door and it slid open to reveal a pretty redheaded girl with a boy who could compete with Lupin in creepiness. The girl smiled at Peter, "Hey. Can we sit in this compartment too?" "s-sure," Peter said looking down at his feet with bright cheeks, cursing his stutter. Lupin shrugged once more glancing at the couple from the corner of his eye. The girl smiled once more, this one a bit strained, and took the seat next to Peter. His thanking of the heavens was cut short when creeper number 2 sent a death glare his way from the seat next to creepy number 1. "I'm Lily and that's Severus," the girl introduced gesturing towards creeper number 2 (Severus). After a moment of awkwardness Peter realized he needed to tell them his name, "Oh er… I'm Peter and that's… R-r-remus," he said gesturing to creeper number 1. "Nice to meet you two. Did you know each other before now?" Lily asked, looking out the window and playing with the hem of her shirt nervously. "… No." "Oh. Uhm you two are first years right?" "I think so," Peter said wincing and glancing at Lupin who was still reading stoically, "I-I am." "Me and Sev too." Peter tried to smile, but his mouth just twitched pathetically. Creeper number 2's death glare increased to something that could probably exorcise ghosts.

Peter lasted two more minutes before squeaking out "bathroom" and escaping. It was too bad the two creepers were so intimidating because Lily had actually seemed nice. Peter wandered the corridor for a while before finding a compartment with only two boys that looked around his age. Peter sighed in relief when he saw them laughing in a non-maniacal way and opened the door and stuttered out, "H-hey. Can I sit with you guys?" The grey eyed boy looked Peter up and down as if assesing him and then spoke in a voice that clearly stated FAIL, "It's not like we own the compartment."

"What Sirius means," the boy with glasses patronized, "is 'of course you can. Please sit down with us'. What's your name?" he asked gesturing towards the seat next him. Peter smiled gratefully and sat, "I'm Peter Pettigrew." "James Potter. And this git's Sirius Black." "Who're you calling a git, you wanker?" Sirius called from where he was lounged across the seat across from them.

The train ride passed quickly with much laughter and candy from the trolley lady and only minimal teasing from Sirius. By the end Peter was proud to say he'd made two new friends. The train started to slow and Peter looked out the window to see a starry sky. "Hey Pete?" James called from where he was lying on the floor. "Yeah?" the shorter boy asked back. "Why aren't you in your school robes?" The train came to a complete stop as Peter leapt up squeaking something illegible and racing out of the room. He could here Sirius' sniggering following him out as he slid through the now milling students. Luckily his sense of direction wasn't too shabby so he managed to find his old compartment without much difficulty and slipped on his robes at top speed. When he was out of the train he could just see James' scruffy hair under the light of a huge lantern leading the first years down a separate path. He sprinted to catch up and hopped into the last boat just before it pulled off. Peter looked over to the two boys who had taken a boat with Lily and Creeper #2 with a blank expression. Maybe they weren't such good friends… His own boat had two other occupants- a tiny blonde haired girl who was even shorter than him and… Creeper #1. Lovely.

* * *

James grinned evilly at Snivellus. "No I'm pretty sure a shower would help. Or maybe a bath?" They'd managed to snag a boat with the redhead and Snivellus and were both taking full advantage. James inched closer to the greasy haired boy hoping there really was a giant squid in the lake. But before he could push Snivellus in the redhead screeched, "Don't you dare!" and shoved James forcefully out of the boat and into the icy water. After a second of shock James flailed, panicking. He'd never swum in water past his waist! And this water was so cold he could literally feel his lungs compressing. When he opened his eyes there was only black. How deep was it? Maybe he could sink to the bottom and push back up? Or maybe he'd drown first. Or get eaten. Suddenly a tentacle wrapped around his wrist and James thrashed even harder- bubbles rushing from his mouth. And that was how the heir to the Potter line died- drown and eaten by the Giant Squid before he'd even made the Gryffindor Quidditch team. How tragic.

* * *

The small girl sharing a boat with Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew was unfortunately named Euphemia Bacon by her loving, but rather eccentric, parents. For wizards it was a bad thing to marry a muggle. A witch marrying a muggle on the other hand was on a whole new level of embarrassment. Thus Euphoria had grown up in a muggle community with only stories from her mother, which she'd assumed to be just that-stories, to learn about a whole other world. When the arrival of her Hogwarts letter Euphemia had been equally surprised and relieved to find her mother wasn't completely insane. Now she understood exactly why her mother was as crazy as she was when a giant tentacle deposited the boy who'd fallen in the lake in the seat next to her, dripping buckets into the already rather rickety boat, then placing a pair of glasses delicately on the shocked boy's nose.

The chubby boy's face was a worrying shade of green and the scary looking one was already disinterested, so Euphemia took it upon herself to check the sopping boy's health. "You alright, mate?" Wide hazel eyes looked into hers, shivers racking his body. "I n-n-nearly d-d-died…. That was AWESOME!" With a nervous laugh Euphemia inched to the other side of the bench, seeing a familiar crazed glint in the boy's eyes. The scary boy looked towards them with narrowed eyes and a shiver raced through her spine. He shrugged of his coat and tossed it to the grinning nut. "Don't get hypothermia." The husky voice raised the hairs on the back of Euphemia's neck and she wondered why the boy set her so on edge. It was more than the fresh looking scar on his face.

* * *

Lily sighed in relief when she saw the insufferable boy begin laughing. She'd nearly had a heart attack when the tentacle had broken the surface instead of his head. Attempted murder. What a lovely way to start her education. The boy's friend had stopped his mad cackling and was staring at her with a speculative look in his eyes. Was he going to shove her in- vengance for his friend? She gripped Sev's hand tightly.

"Feisty. What's your name?" He asked cordially shocking the answer out of the girl. "Lily Evans." He pondered the name and said it out loud like an experiment. "Evans. Are you a mudblood?" Sev's hand tightened and he spat out hatefully, "None of your business, _Black_." The boys eyes narrowed on Severus and there was a tense silence, before he turned back to Lily, ignoring the interruption. Lily wondered what the term meant and how offensive it was. "Do you really make clothes out of unicorn pelts after you eat them?" Lily's jaw dropped. "Do _you _really kidnap children and cook them in pies?" Sirius' nose wrinkled, "Why would _anyone_ do that?"

After handing away his cloak, Remus realized that the interaction could be considered friendly. It had been

* * *

instinctive- he knew the effects of cold and how to help. Would the boy take notice of him now? Remus started to feel slightly sick. Were the other people on the boat thinking how weird it was that he wasn't cold in only a robe? Why was the boy grinning at him? Why was the girl staring- his increasingly panicked thoughts were disrupted with his first view of the castle. The pictures in Hogwarts A History did it no real justice. It was beautiful, amazing, unreal. He was going to Hogwarts. An overwhelming happiness bubbled up inside him and an awed grin spread its way across his face. _He_ was going to _Hogwarts_. He felt like laughing. Dancing. Hugging everyone. The knowledge that it would mean his expulsion helped keep down his impulsions and dampened his mood enough to come back to reality.

The huge games keeper- Remus smelled something off about him- led the new students up to the huge castle doors where they met Professor McGonagall. Remus had spent a lot of time discussing his attendance with the Deputy Headmistress and his parents. After initial wariness she'd been surprisingly calm in his presence, but as she interacted with the other students Remus realized it must have just been her natural composure.

"Mr. Lupin and Mr. Potter. Please wait after the feast," she called before leaving them in the empty room. Remus hadn't reacted and hoped no one would think him out of the ordinary for the announcement. James Potter, as he'd introduced himself on the boat, was chatting unworriedly with another black haired boy. Peter Pettigrew was hanging on the edge of their conversation looking nervous. Remus wondered if that was a constant state for the boy, but as he looked around at the other first years it appeared to be a common look. Remus himself was feeling increasingly uneasy. Was he really going to attend a school with people other than his family for the next seven years?

Professor McGonagall returned shortly and ushered them into a beautiful banquet hall. Where _everyone _was staring at him. No not him. All of the first years, Remus realized in relief. A well worn hat had been placed on the stool in the front of the room and the Professor stood next to it with a scroll. The first name to be called was 'Abercrombie, Sylvester and a small boy walked stiffly up to the stool before dropping down as if being controlled by marionette strings then left for another toy. The hat was placed on his head and a second later it called, "RAVENCLAW!" The boy scrambled much more gracefully to the cheering bronze and blue colored table.

'Bacon, Euphemia,' half the hall sniggered at the name of the girl he'd shared a boat with, was sorted into Hufflepuff and the girl sat down with a bright red face.

When 'Black, Sirius' was called, James Potter's friend marched confidently up to the stool and sat on it as though it were a thrown and all the upperclassmen his peasants. Remus wasn't particularly surprised at the demeanor- he'd read a lot in the papers about the overly extravagant and illustrious Black family. He was surprised at the house he was sorted immediately into. And the grin on his face afterwards as he practically skipped to the silent table. Only James Potter clapped until a second after he sat down, when the boy's new housemates joined in slightly confusedly.

Remus' nerves started up again after 'Davies, Chelsea' was sorted into Gryffindor and he wondered if his name was really on the list. And if it was, would the sorting hat refuse to sort him on account of not being human? Or worse would it just call out 'WEREWOLF!' instead of a house? Once again Remus' worrying was cut off by McGonagall calling out a very familiar name. "Remus, Lupin."

* * *

When the sorting was finished James inspected the three boys he'd be living with for the next seven years. He had already set their personalities in his mind.

Sirius Black. The rebel. Defying his families values and becoming the first Gryffindor Black. With a wicked sense of humor he was at the top of James' best friend candidates.

Peter Pettigrew. The follower. He'd hung on every word out of the other two boy's mouths and added little of his own. Definitely a good sidekick.

Remus Lupin. The badass. The super cool scar and unfriendly attitude keeping others at bay. The secret niceness in giving James his cloak. He would get him to crack and be his friend by the end of the year.

Overall James was very pleased as he dug into the feast laid out in front of him. One bad thing was the redhead sitting across the table and a few seats down from him. But after shoving him in the lake James had begun to revise his first opinion. She must be pretty cool. The other girls had seemed to be just that- girls. James wrinkled his nose and turned to Sirius.

* * *

Thanks for reading, please tell me what you think.


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